


Martha

by haisai_andagii



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU, DCU - Comicverse, Superman (Comics), World's Finest (Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-19
Updated: 2011-08-19
Packaged: 2017-11-03 09:30:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/379910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haisai_andagii/pseuds/haisai_andagii
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clark keeps having the most intense dreams about a woman other than his wife.  But this mysterious lady wants something from him - something involving Bruce Wayne.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Martha

Clark knows it is a dream.  And though he is anchored by the weight of Lois in his arms, his body and mind float away into the recesses of sleep.

In this world, he is a child again.  He sees his hands -small, fisted- on his mother’s cotton shirt.  Clark cranes his neck, struggling to see her face.  However, his eyes stay fixed at her throat.  It’s collared with pearls - a sort of finery they could never afford during his days on the farm.  And though they are ostentation and wildly out of place, he finds them soothing and lovely.

Still, he knows it’s “Ma.”  He knows it’s “Martha.”  But the name sounds unfamiliar and familiar on his tongue.  This woman who shares his mother’s name is a welcomed stranger.  He feels safe in her embrace and warmed against her bosom.

“Clark,” she coos as she carried him over to a bassinet. “We have a new addition to our happy family.” They lean in together and Clark finds a baby with black hair.  The babe opens his pink mouth, yawning like a cat lounging in the sun.  His lashes flutter open to reveal steely blue eyes.  

Clark blinks. He finds the babe nestled in his own arms.  The woman is gone and a darkness seems to have taken her place.  It begins to encircle them both - predatory and endless.  Instinct tells him to run but he takes no more than a few steps before they are caught.

The baby slips from his arms into the abyss and Clark struggles to keep his hold.  He jolts awake at Lois’ strangled cries and lets her loose, feeling her scramble off the bed.

“You were having a nightmare!” she hollers, scared and angry, her voice slurred with sleep.  “You almos’ snapp’d me in haff!”  He should be sorry but a smile splits his face.

A pillow glances off the side of his head.

 **\---**   

Kal sits side-by-side with Diana as they review security feeds.  It’s all a grainy black-and-white blur to him and he barely registers the Amazon’s raucous laughter when Hal locks Wally in an anti-gravity chamber.  They will have to be reprimanded for that later.

He has been dreaming of “Martha” and “the baby” every night.  It’s ruining his home life (Lois has banished him to the living room until he gets it together); it’s ruining his work life (Perry has been riding him for that LexCorp article for a week now.).

And the Watchtower is not any better.  Batman’s been an absolute beast - plowing through the corridors like those creatures from a Rowling novel that Kara chatters on about - the ones that suck happiness and life from everything.  But Bruce’s anger is not new but this time, he seems to be searching for a fight - snapping at everything and everyone over the slightest of offenses.  At the very least, Booster won't forget to change the coffee filter when he's making a new pot.

Diana tells him that it will pass and that they cannot make his displeasure their own.

But that falls apart at the meeting following monitor duty.  A few UN Aid workers were caught up in a breakdown of negotiations between rivaling Bialyan tribes.  The Queen has no interest in quelling their small-scale war and thinks it’s best to take on a battle-weary victor and their spoils.

“Your plan is neurotic!” Kal yells in frustration.

“You’d rather we charge in?  Like you?” Batman growls.  “Most of us lack your invulnerability.”

“And most of us lack your paranoia!” Superman barks.  “It takes too much time for you to do reconnaissance alone!”  

“We don’t have enough intelligence.  And the info from informants is spotty and inconsistent.  This needs to be done right.”

“I agree and that’s why you need support!  Time is still a factor here!  The more eyes and ears, the better!”

“Too many cooks in the kitchen.”

“You know,” Kal hears himself say, unsure of how he intends to finish. He grasps for the right words but blurts out: “Why did you even bother to work with us, if all you want to be is alone?!”

The outburst sounds childish.  And by the looks on their faces, he can tell everyone around him thinks so, too.

Embarrassed, Kal excuses himself.

**\---**

The baby is growing.  He’s going to be tall, Clark can tell.  His legs are too long and he stumbles about like a newborn colt.  He wraps his hands around Ma’s skirted legs. 

“Clark?” this Martha asks.  She looks a little different every time.  He hair is a dark, rich black and not the sun-kissed auburn color he knows.  It bothers Clark that he cannot remember Ma’s mouth.  This one is much sharper but still just as kind and gentle.  

It’s fine.  

He’s happy.  

They are happy.

“Your brother,” she continues, fingering the pearls collaring her slender neck.  “You’ll watch over him for me, won’t you?”

“Of course!” Clark cries.  Of course he would look after his brother.  Superman looks after the entire world, so what’s one more?  

“He’s always getting into trouble, but he means well.  You’ll protect him?”

“Of course, Ma!”

She smiles lovingly, radiantly.  Her smile fills his heart with the purest joy. 

Suddenly, the darkness is upon them.  Clark grabs hold of the boy’s hand and they take off across the bright nothingness.  The darkness arcs high, readying its strike but Martha, somehow, stands between them.  As it consumes her, she wrenches the necklace from her throat.  The pearls scatter around them like purifying salt.  

The darkness is gone.

Then, he hears it.  

A ringing.

Lois’ gruff, sleep-laden voice cuts through his subconscious and Clark is back in their bedroom.  No baby.  No pearls.  No “Ma.”

“-nearly 4 a.m.” she grouses.  Lois sighs angrily and props the phone up to his ear.  “Bruce.”

“H-hello?”

“I’m in Metropolis.  Meet me tomorrow at 7.  Usual place.”  The phone clicks and Clark lies in the hum of the dial tone for a full minute before disconnecting.

But their meet never happens.  Alfred calls, sending his apologies as Bruce had to return to Gotham the following morning.  Clark decides that his article (and Batman) can wait and that he’d rather take the wife out to dinner.

**\---**

As usual, Lois eats voraciously.  He can’t help but smile as she helps herself to some of his fries.  It’s a quality Clark loves - her lack of needless shame.  

“He’s crazy,” she says as she wipes mustard off her chin with her hand.  “And if he wakes me up again like he did last night, I’m gonna drive to Gotham and give him a piece of my mind.”

“He’s been on edge lately,” Clark beings slowly.  He shouldn't make excuses for Bruce but he finds himself doing it anyway.  “Though I don’t know why.”

“Well, you know,”  Lois began in her know-it-all tone. “It’s the anniversary of the Waynes’ death.  Always a big benefit for their foundation the night before.”

“What?! When?!”

“Clark, it doesn’t take an investigative reporter to figure that out!  Cat’s been yammering about it all week.  She gets to cover the event and find a new husband...”

“Okay,” he mutters sheepishly.  “But when?”

"Well, it’s tonight.  So, the actual anniversary must be tomorr-ah!”

Clark places a kiss on her nose and tips the rest of his fries onto her plate.

“You’re welcome,” she smirks. “But you're still paying for dinner.”

**\---**

This time, Clark knows it’s definitely not his mother.  Martha Wayne is decadent:  neck fettered with pearls, donning a perfectly tailored skirted suit with shiny, pointed heels.  Her dark hair is swept high on her head.  She has a gentle face with that sharp mouth.  

“Hello, Mr Kent.”  Her voice is like alter bells - light and joyful.  “I’m sorry to keep bothering you like this...but being dead...”  She shrugs elegantly ( _Is that even possible, he wonders_.).

“It’s fine,” he replies.  “You’re more pleasant than the other things that haunt my dreams.”  Martha breaks into laughter.  Clark blushes furiously.  “S-sorry.”

“Not a problem,” she says, quelling her giggling.  “Anyway, I wanted to ask something of you.”

“Why the dreams?  Why not come out and ask me?”

“Rules of the game,” she explained. “You needed to know exactly who I was in order for me to contact you directly.  I feel terribly guilty.”

Clark nods.  He knows she would not lie.

“It’s just that you’re just so much alike: selfless, determined, kindhearted-”

“Bull-headed,” he interjects.  Martha’s ringed fingers hiding a mischievous smile.

“Bruce is lucky to have you,” she continues.  “Tomorrow, could you look after my little boy?  That’s all I ask.  It’s just so...hard for him, what happened to us.  Please?”

“Of course,” he says, once again without any hesitation. 

“You’re such a good boy,” she says, relieved.  “Now, if he’d only follow your example and settle down!  That Selina girl a bit wild but she seems pretty nice.”

“Too many cats.”

Martha laughs again.  Clark swears he has never heard a more beautiful sound.

**\---**

Bruce is right where Alfred said he would be.  Clark floats through Gotham Cemetery until he spots his friend, kneeling before a pair of headstones, a pair of roses at his feet.   

“I am here to watch your back just for tonight,” he says breaking their silence.

“I didn’t ask-,”

“I know,” Clark interrupts.  “I’m not doing it for you.”  

“For who?” Batman ask as he rises and turns to face him.  

Clark doesn’t answer.  His eye trace the engraving of her name.

You’ll look after my boy, won’t you?  He can hear her in his mind so clearly.

Of course, he replies.  

Always?

Yes, he answers. Like a good brother should.


End file.
